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Getting the joke
In April 1995, Discover Magazine (available through the Libraries at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ft.html) announced the discovery of an uncanny new species of Antarctic mammals, capable of carving tunnels through the ice like gophers on a golf course. These "hot-headed naked ice borers," so named by Aprile Pazzo, were described as "repulsive," with bony plates on their foreheads capable of generating enough heat to melt right through the ice. With sharp incisors and a taste for fresh penguin, these nasty little vermin were even thought to be responsible for the disappearance of famed Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson, who according to Pazzo, would have resembled a giant penguin, waddling across the frozen wasteland.
Hot-headed naked ice borer
Then, some astute reader realized that "Aprile Pazzo" could be roughly translated from Italian as "April Fool." Discover Magazine reportedly received more mail for that one article than any other in their history, and not much of it from people who appreciated the joke.
April Fool's jokes and hoaxes, like this one, can tickle your funny bone and try your patience. The Museum of Hoaxes lists the top 100 April Fool's Day hoaxes of all time (http://www. museumofhoaxes.com/aprilfool). One of these, "The Taco Liberty Bell," describes a full-page ad in The New York Times where the fast food company claimed to have purchased the Liberty Bell from the government in an effort to help reduce the national debt. According to the PR firm that engineered the hoax, Taco Bell saw more than a million-dollar increase in sales over the next two days (http://www.painepr.com/case_studies2.asp?nav= quicktime&content=tacolibertybell). The number of complaints received by the City of Philadelphia Mayor's office, however, was likewise impressive.
Naturally, the Internet itself is often a source of hoaxes and jokes. Recently, a group of government officials in California was nearly taken in by a Web site that warns of the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide. The Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division (http://www.dhmo.org/) produces a vast array of materials warning of the potential hazards in using this substance, including risk of death due to inhalation. Of course, when the officials finally realized that dihydrogen monoxide is more commonly known as H20 or water, they were the ones who turned out to be all wet! ( http://apnews.myway.com//article/20040315/D81AQF6O0.html) They also were quick to blame their paralegal for the error.
Other great April Fool's gags include Microsoft offering to buy the Catholic Church (http://www.2meta.com/april-fools/1994/Microsoft-buys-Vatican. html) and Burger King announcing its new "Left-Handed Whopper" (http:// www.laughnet.net/archive/misc/leftwhop.htm).
Maybe this April Fool's Day, we will see the University Libraries install a Cybrary full of iLoos (http://news. com.com/2100-1041-1001109.html). Anything's possible!
—Stewart Brower, University Libraries